Clothesline support



June 13, 1950 N. H. EASTMAN CLOTHESLINE SUPPORT Filed Aug. 15, 1947 Inventor Nels H. E asfman Fatented June 1 3, 1956 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,511,052 oLo'rHEsLINE Saleem Nels H. Eastman, Detroit, Mi el Application August 15, 1947, Serial No. 768,808

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in clothesline supports for supporting clotheslines in enclosed spaces, such as the basement of a building.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a clothesline support which may be conveniently secured to a rafter or joist and which extends downwardly and below the latter to support a clothesline within easy reach,

A further object of the invention is to provide a clothesline support of this character which includes attaching brackets secured to the joist a suitable distance apart and to which the ends of a. clothesline may be attached, one of the brackets include line tightening means by means of which slack may be removed from the line.

A still further object is to provide a device of this character of simple and practical construction, which is strong and durable, which may be easily and quickly secured in position to the rafters, and which at the same time is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and otherwise well adapted for the purposes for which the same is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the ccompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a pair of supports secured in position to the rafters of a room.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of one of the brackets showing the line tightener attached thereto.

Figure 3 is a front elevational view thereof.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on a line 44 of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the lower end of the other bracket showing the line attaching cleat carried thereby.

Referring now to the drawing in detail wherein for the purpose of illustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of the invention the numerals 5 and 6 designate a pair of clothesline attaching brackets, each bracket being constructed of a sheet metal channel member bent upon itself intermediate its ends to provide a pair of channel shaped legs '5 and 8 with their channeled faces opposed. The ends of the legs I and 8 are inclined in outwardly diverging relation with respect to each other for positioning at the opposite sides of a rafter 9, the flanges If] at the upper ends of the legs being removed to provide flat attaching tongues II and 12 for fas tening to the rafter by screws or the like IS. The tongue I! is preferably of increased length to provide reinforcement for the leg I at its attached end.

The outer surface of the legs I and 8 are also formed with longitudinally extending reinforcing ribs M. A pulley mounting plate l5 has one end slit to form oppositely extending flanges 2| which are welded or otherwise suitably secured to the lower end of the leg 8 of bracket 5, the mounting plate l5 having a pulley l6 journalled thereon and over which one end of a clothesline I1 is trained.

The locking lever I8 is pivotally carried at the outer end of the mounting plate l5 and is formed with a toothed inner edge I9 to provide an effective gripping engagement with the clothesline I! carried by the pulley.

The locking lever I8 is pivoted adjacent its toothed edge l9 to provide a weighted or off-balanced free end to automatically raise the toothed end i 9 of the locking lever into engagement with the clothesline by gravitation of the free end of the lever.

A clothesline attaching cleat 2B is welded or otherwise suitably secured to the outer lower end of leg 8 of the bracket 6 and to which the other end of the clothesline is looped or otherwise suitably secured.

In the operation of the device, the brackets 5 and 6 are secured to a pair of the rafters 9 of a room in suitably spaced apart relation with respect to each other and with the pulley mounting l5 of the bracket 5 positioned at the side of the bracket opposed to the bracket 6 as shown in Figure 1. The clothesline I1 is then secured to the cleat 29 and trained over the pulley l6 and locked in a taut position by the locking lever l8.

Having described the invention What is claimed as new is:

l. A clothesline support comprising a bracket adapted to be attached in a suspended position to an overhead supporting structure, and a line anchoring member carried by the bracket, said line anchoring member comprising a horizontal arm carried at the lower end of said bracket, a pulley journalled on the arm, and an automatic line locking lever pivoted to the arm to clamp the line against the pulley.

2. A clothesline support comprising a bracket adapted to be attached in a suspended position to an overhead supporting structure, said bracket comprising a channeled member bent upon itself to provide a pair of upwardly diverging channeled legs positioned at opposite sides of said supporting structure, said legs having flanges at their edges abutting each other at the lower portion of the legs I to brace the legs one against the other and a line attaching cleat at the lower united ends of said legs.

3. A clothesline support comprising an elongated bracket fprmedof ,a pair pf channeled legs united with each othenat one end and diverging 10 Number toward their other ends and with the flanges of the channel of one leg opposed to the flanges of the channel of the other leg and abutting attheir united ends, upstanding tongues at the diverging ends of the legs for attaching to the opposite .sides of an overhead supporting structure, and a' line anchoring member at the united ends of the legs of the bracket.

NELS H. EASTMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Name Date 916,091 Batzer Mar. 23, 1909 950,592 Perrott Mar. 1, 1910 1,806,898 Hildebrand Feb. 7, 1933 1,960,607 Wallace May 29, 1934 15 2,289,725 Orton July 14, 1942 2,292,059 Daum Aug. 4, 1942 

